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Topic: Gothic Space Horror (Read 63285 times)

Terra, Earth, a dozen other names for the cradle of humanity, the one safe place in the galaxy. The great blue green marble of the earth hung heavy in the midnight black sky. The moon hung a distant silver orb, much smaller than the Earth, but still breathtaking. Even the stream of sublight traffic to and fro from the planet surface to the mosaic of colony light on the moon didnt detract from the vision.

Captain Johannes Guildenstern, or Cap'n Stern stood in the medical bay, his face towards the viewscreen. It was artificial, ading windows to a deep space rescue and salvage ship structurally weakened the vessel as well as compromised its protection against radiation. Below him, South Africa, and Cape Town, his place of birth swung past in dramatic slow motion. It would be a long time before he returned to earth, but this was to be his last voyage, he would be retiring upon his return.

"Are you ready for your physical Captain?" Doctor Marney asked. She was a short woman, perhaps five foot four inches with a head of curly dark hair and large eyes. She was perhaps in her forties, and was the second in command after himself.

"Is this necessary, Marney?" Stern asked, it was pain to stand in the medbay with his pants dropped, plus it always made things difficult when dealing with a new crew should they chose to be early, rather than the normal late.

"You know protocol. Everyone gets a standard physical before launch, even you captain." She said.

"Fine, lets get this over with." Stern grunted as the chief medical officer used her offical grip and told him to cough. That being done, he gladly replaced his clothing in the proper location. THe rest of the crew should be arriving soon, if they hadnt already and were just taking their time finding the medical bay.

The Ballard was not a new ship by any means. Her hull was laid neary eighty-five years ago, during the building boom that followed the success of Armstrong City on the moon. Nearly five hundred ships had been commisioned and built with the aid of the lunar base, new orbital station, and opening of the LaGrange shipyards.

Nearly 350 meters long, the Ballard was one of the largest non-military, non-bulk freighters in system. It had a forward observation deck, lounge facilities, and crew space for nearly 200 people. It only required a crew of ten to operate, the rest of the room was for rescueing crews of badly damaged ships. Aft of the crew compartment was the internal cargo bay/hanger. Four small recovery vessels were packed into the ship, each had to discern from the internal hull due to their tight berths. Two were rescue shuttles, capable of pulling 20 survivors from a wreck. The other two were work shuttles, armed with cutting lasers, and manipulative arms. They would jettison the damaged parts of a ship, or remove damaged fuel cells, or radioactive contaminants.

The Ballard, or Bally as she was called by her crews had a long service record. Nearly 1200 survivors rescued, and 63 ships salvaged, or towed back to a safe locale. The record would rise to 64 ships soon enough.

The main engines, high yield ion drivers could move the ship at great speed, even outpacing the solid fuel motors, and hypergolic rockets of the 20th and 21st centuries. The main power source was a single toroid fusion reactor back up by solar arrays, and a smaller secondary pile of fissionable fuel stock. The back-up reactor had not been used in sixteen years, the the main reactor, a second generation fusion had an exemplary performance record.

Corpseman Huey Long, just Hue to his friends, floated down the umbilical cord that linked the ship to the docking facility. At the end of the tunnel the airlock was open to admit the crew. A single guard was stationed there, he checked Hue's credentials and commision to the Ballard. Hue was an ex-marine combat medic, nothing really special he just patched up guys and kept them alive until the docs could reach them. He once recieved a bronze star when a squad ran into ambush. Six men imcluding the Staff Sergent were killed instantly but Hue was able to keep the other three alive long enough for a med evac to get them to the field hospital. One died anyway but two were still alive today, Hue was email buddies with them.

Once the guard cleared him he was ordered to stash his duffel bag of clothes and personal items in his quarters then report to the bridge where the Captain was welcoming everyone aboard.

A few short minutes later he stepped onto the medical bay. He immediately saluted the Lt. and began to shout before he caught himself, "Sorry old habits die hard. I'm Corpseman Huey Long, sir and your Lt. Kim Marney. I'm supposed to be your assistant, thanks for taking me aboard."

"I've read your dossier, Corp." Lt. Marney said. She picked up her medical equipment. "It is impressive, combat medic, decorated. Hopefully this will be a dull flight for us." she said with a smile.

"You know the drill sailor. Everyone gets a physical, and that means you too. Cant have one of the medics go down with something. You cleared the biologicals, but we have to check for hernia, or any other possible defects, you understand."

Hue smiled tightly, "I can tell you doc I'm probaly not in the best form of my life but I'm probaly in the best form out of this crew. But ah let's get this over with. Mamn"

A few minutes later Hue was checked in healthy condition as ever, and he was right he was one healthiest members of the crew on board. Checked out and ready Hue turned to the Doctor, the medical bay it's self was clean and organized almost the way it was with the military. Hue smiled, "Lt. Marney, should I go ahead and get to work here or is the Captain having an orrientation?"

"Pockets" Domino found her way onto the ship, looking around. This was going to be an interesting trip. She hadn't shipped out on one of these babies yet. The crewman stationed at the door looked at her rather oddly, wondering just what she had stuffed into the many pockets on her uniform. Some were existing pockets, some she had added herself. But she checked out, and her credentials were good, so he directed her to the med bay. She was a smallish, redhaired woman, with the type of personality that can almost be called offensively cheerful at times, but wasn't. Quite. She found a convienient place to stash her stuff without taking too much of a detour. Soon enough, she arrived at the med bay. "I suppose this is where we report to then. I'm Chief Engineer Jenna Domino, but everyone calls me Pockets. I'm guessing you're Lt. Marney," she said in her friendly way, addressing the woman.

"Corp. Long, the Captain is currently on the bridge, there is going to be a briefing in thirty minutes in the ships mess. You can wait there if you would like, or you can assist me in giving the last of the physicals. It isnt much work, there are only ten members of this crew, and three are already aboard." Lt. Marney offered.

"It might give you a chance to get a feel for the medbay." she said. The medbay was far from the brilliant white rooms of the training academy, or most planetary facilities, but it was a far cry from the horrid conditions of working in the field, surrounded by gunfire and explosions. One of the overhead lights fluttered, dimmed, and then resumed normal function.

*****

"Pockets, is it?" Marney said with a skeptical look on her face. "Well, we are going to be together for a while so I guess we should get comfortable with one another. Well, we are going to getting under way shortly, the ship has already checked out with the dock authority, and we are having a briefing in the mess in twenty minutes. After that you shouldnt have a hard time finding the engineering compartment." she said.

"I'm not going to lie, I am glad I am not the only woman on board. Being the only woman on a cruise is a rough order."

Hue looked up a little emberaced then shucked back into his t-shirt and camo pants. "Corpseman Huey Long, mamn friends just call me Hue,: He said. Then left for the bridge to meet the Captain, there wasn't much going on with the examinations being done by the Doctor any work he would of had was already being done. Hue took the lull happily he was pretty sure once they were called out he would get all the work to keep him busy and then some. He stepped onto a lift and it went stright to the bridge. He stepped off. He appreciated the quiet buzz of activity that was the bridge it reminded him of home. Which was the Corps which he had fifeteen years worth of action in.

He came to attention and saluted the Captain. "Corpseman Huey Long reporting, Captain."

Pockets nodded enthusiastically. "I know. Actually, in some cases, being a woman at all on a crew is rough."After her physical (which was interrupted several times by loud CLUNK!s as various items fell out of her many pockets), she grinned up at the medic (who stood a full head taller than her). "So, if that's it, I'ma go find the engineering bay now. I wanna get my hammock set up before the briefing. See ya later!"And with that, she scurried out of the med bay, picking up her stuff on the way. The engineering bay was easy to find. Pockets sighed happily. "Home again, home again, jiggity-jig."

"Welcome aboard." The captain said, facing the glowing screens that showed a different panorama of the sky. A single vessel showed on a screen, a monster if Hue had ever seen one. From the information on the screen, the captain was reviewing a video, probably taped.

"That is the ship we are going after. I guess there is no harm telling you, but she was on a long range cruise, and contact was lost with her, we dont know what happened, but this is a search and rescue mission. She is the Celeste, a 750 meter long exploration ship, crew of eighty scientists and enlisted men." The captain said.

"She's new, not two years out of the shipyard, and this was her first deep mission."

After stowing her stuff (and setting up a hammock), Pockets found her way to the bridge. She came in to catch the tail part of the captains statement. She caught sight of the Celeste. "Wow. Shiny." She wondered what condition the engine systems would be in when they found it. "So that's what we're looking for, then?" Suddenly, she remembered that she hadn't introduced herself. "Oh! I'm Pockets, by the way. Chief Engineer."

Maurice gave a throaty, phlegm-filled cough as he entered the ship. How he longed for a good cigar right now, but he hadnt brought any, and thus he simply sighed, and nodded to the crewman at the door without bothering to speak to him. He gave his credentials, and was sent on his way. Assistant Engineer Officer, Maurice "Pliers" Dulman ran a hand tiredly through his black, though greying hair, studying the ship as he made his way to the medical bay. Early forties and still working strong. The man dropped his bag and belongings just outside the door to the medical bay - he would find a quiet place to sleep, away from the rest of the crew. Probably in the engineering bay, actually - He disliked company of others, and liked the soft hum of machinery. Helped him both think and sleep.

Maurice entered the bay, took one look at the medical officer and the glove she was putting on and frowned, speaking in a rough voice, "Who needs to be abducted to get probed when you can just be a crewman?"

"A sense of humor and a smokers cough, I like your style sailor." Lt. Marney said as she gave Pliers his examination. You do know that smoking is not allowed aboard this ship, so that means everyone runs and hides to smoke their contraband. Dont worry to much, we are pretty laid back here. Doesnt do to get overly excited, were going to be shipmates for a while." she said with a smile.

"There you go, and welcome aboard sailor. There will be a briefing in the mess, the captains going to tell us what we are going after."

******

"Youre d**n right Shiny. Shes new, an entirely new class of ship, has a third generation fusion reactor, advanced electronics and state of the art everything. She was supposed to make a deep run delivery to the Deep Stellar Observatory at Neptune, but vanished off the scopes once she reached the Uranus nav point. Twelve trillion credits worth of starship just up and gone. We have to find her." the captain said.

"Now I believe that the Lt. told everyone to meet in the ships mess, and nothe the bridge. I'll overlook it this time, but there will be discipline on my ship." he said in a stern voice.

"I just went where I heard voices." Pockets shrugged. "But that reminds me..." She hadn't eaten in a while, and it suddenly occured to her that she was starving. With that, she rabbited out of the room, heading for the mess at top speed. Maybe they would have frozen burritos... "Buuuuuuuuurriiiiiiiiiitoooooooooooos..." Well, this was looking like it was going to be an interesting mission. She, at least wanted to get her hands on that new drive system, take it apart, find out how it worked, and put it back together again a little better.

Maurice gave a slight nod to Lt. Marney before leaving, grabbing his belongings and making his way to the engineering bay. Upon opening the door to the bay, he blinked once, and studied the hammock which was already hanging in there. After a few seconds, Pliers merely shook his head and grunted, making his way to the far end of the bay and dropping a mattress on the floor, unrolling it to set up his own sleeping area. Once that was complete, he made his way to the Mess - the first one there - and took a seat, crossing arms in front of his chest and closing his eyes, waiting.

Pockets skidded into the mess, barely missing the wall. It was a bad habit of hers, but she had a tendency to go everywhere at top speed. There was already someone else there, an older, grumpy looking man. "Oh, hi. I'm Pockets." She prowled around the mess for a few moments, before deciding that there was nothing that she wanted. She pulled the flap of a pocket open and extracted a ration bar. She sat down on a table near the man, caught the whiff of stale cigars coming off him, made a face, and moved. Munching happily, she said, "This is my first time going out on something that's not run by one of those little, slightly disreputable salvage operations."

Maurices eyes opened at the sound of a newcomer, and he peered at her curiosly. "Pliers." Was his response to her name. He watched the girl wander around the hall with his usual faint frown - his face appeared as though a smile hadnt touched it for a good while. "You seem excited about it. Trust me when I say there is hardly any difference between this and those 'self-profit' operations."

"I don't care. It's a new experience, anyway. And we're sure as heck a lot less likely to get stopped by patrols. Those get annoying after a while." Pockets decided that Pliers was definitely a grouch. "Anyway. All of the crews I've shipped out with, we never were asked to go find a missing ship. Usually we were discouraged from that."

Hue nodded nad left the bridge, well at least he knew the Captain was a stickler for proper procuedure. He's porbaly an ex-navy bird, all those navy birds were alike. Hue made his way back to the mess, his pace was slower than pockets who flew down the corridors to it. Hue arrived there though only a few minutes later.

Hue grabbed some chow, a plate of meat and fresh vegatables. It was best to take these first becasue they would adventually run out on a ship. Or that had been his experaicne on military troops carriers. Hue started wolfing down the food, he noticed the older man while a grumpy look about him over on the other side of the table. Well it was shaping up to be a really long voyage by the look of Pliers he probaly played cards and smoked. That was good he still had some Fidels left in his cigar case from the deployment to Wanderjar along with some beat up playing cards.

That ship they were after bothered him, for something that new to go missing it wouldn't be mechanical failure a ship that new would have a crack crew that could at least get the ship to limp into a port. Hue almost had a sixth sense abouth this, and he felt there was definately something sinister about the ships disappearance.

Lt. 1st Class Michaelle "Micky" St. George was the last to board the Ballard. So she thought. She hadn't been on the ship long when she heard the orders to report to the Mess. Still carrying her gear and with orders in hand she made her way to the mess. Micky was a petite woman. 5'2" and only a 130 pounds. But she was almost all lean muscles. Her black curly hair was cropped short and it seemed to form two little horns over her ears. Clad in dark navy flight gear she took a seat, her gear was placed at her feet. Micky's skin was sort of a dusky tan. She removed her sunglasses, old earth replicas, Micky looked to other two over. Having caught the last bit of conversation as she came into the room. "Patrols..hmph. Nothing but little grubbers trying to get their share off of a salvage. Parasites." She had a slightly wolfish grin, it seemed to transform her whole face, making her seem younger than her age. At 29, Lt. Michaelle was one heck of a pilot and a bit reckless at times. She had been recently transferred from the Cataran, a combat vessel. The Cataran was in for repairs and had been issued a new crew. Much to the annoyance of Micky, she had loved that ship. Now here she was...on a salvage rescue ship. Could it get any better?

A glance was given to one she hadnt noticed before. Darn, she must be slipping. Then again her trasfer had come in late and she had only managed 3 hours of sleep. A weary eye was given to the others as she detected the faint smell of cigars. Not bad..but not a great idea. No doubt the O2 scrubbers would be working over time. But hey, she couldnt complain too much. This would be a joyride compared to her last trip out.

Santiago Keyes, a Cuban born pilot and navigator swaggered into the mess, his hair a carefully prepared pompador of hair and pomade. A pencil thin mustache adorned his upper lip, and he had the air of Rikki Ricardo mixed with fighter pilot.

"Senora Marney, she is not a gentle mujere." he said in a thick accent. "Mi llamo Corpsman Keyes, you might have heard of me, fighter pilot aboard the Enterprise, ace with sies kills." he said, as proud as a cockerel.

"Ah, si, es muy bien! Cubanos, I wish I had two boxes in my duffel." he said patting a square shape pressed into the side of his pack. "We should be leaving soon, no? There was another pilot waiting for senora Marneys attention, and two more running late."

Severin Talbot ran up the tube leading to the medbay, the metalic sound of his feet gave forth a small echo in the air. It was his wery first mission and he was late. Not a good first impression at all.He was in his 23 years old, an extremely low age for this kind of job. Normally they let rookies do patrol flights and such for a couple of years.He had brown hair which he preferred to comb back with gel. His nose was slightly out of place due to the many years of boxing, but that did not bother him. He thought it rather charming.Raging two meters from the ground always brought him a certain amount of attention. As did the fact that he was the best in his class the year he finished his pilot training. But nontheless, he was a rookie. This was the real thing, not a flight simulator. Neither would his teacher watch his back while he was flying, everebody would expect him to do his part without any errors or questions.

He reached the medbay, his bag and gear over his shoulder."Sorry i am late, I had to get my papers checked first."

"Private Talbot, good of you to make it." Lt. Marney said. "You know you are quite the exception on this cruise, your the only rookie on deck." she said as she administered the physical.

"Well, you seem to be in fine health, and had excellent scores on the simulators, well see how well you handle the real thing, wont we. Do me favor, private, dont go nuts on me. This is going to be a long cruise, and we are going to be shipmates for a long time. I would hate to have to put you down." she said with a wink.

Hue eye's rolled over to "Micky", he let out a slight sigh, he knew a "Micky" a Lt. like herself had helped his unit out of the fire by taking out a tank that had closed in when Hue was trying to stabilize two men. She had the arrogance of an aero jock maybe she was in and the same.

"Hey, Lt Michaelle, were you at Diamunde?" Diamunde had been one of last major campaigns, a self styled corperate worldlord had taken over and tried to make the interstellar government deal with just him after he obliterated his competition. He held ont the world with an iron fist made of MBT combat tanks that been made there with Diamunde's rich minerals and ores. That was the first tank fight in over three hundred years, the last tank fight had been on old Earth during world war three when American Super Abrams attacked Canada, Canada came back with the straight arrow infantry launched missle it completely negated tanks untill Diamunde which by that time mist anti tank weapons had been decommissioned. It had been a rough campaign for every one.